N66MX Goes to South America
2015-12-09:
N66MX is about to embark on the longest trip it will ever make, and it won't be by air. David Favrholdt has sold the Mooney Mite from the estate of his uncle Ben, who died last March. Here is a series of photos taken in David's hangar in Porterville, CA showing the job of preparing the airplane for shipping to South America. The new owner, Jaime Colvin and his son, Phillip, are carefully dismantling the Mite for loading into a 40-foot container in which it will be going to its new home in Santiago, Chile.
Jaime was first introduced to a Mite back in 2001 in Savannah, Georgia where he flew one for half an hour.
This is his ninth airplane and one he has always wanted to have.
Jaime is using tools borrowed from Mike Archer of Porterville.
[Pssst.... Wanna buy that one-of-a-kind Cubette in the corner of the hangar?? Ask Davidabout it.]
Jaime hopes to have the Mite in Chile by the end of December.
Once the plane is in one piece again, there will be some changes done to the avionics.
The container will be trucked to Long Beach, CA where it will go onboard a ship.
Phillip Colvin, David Favrholdt and Jaime Colvin.
2016-01-01:
The following seven photos were sent to us by Jamie shortly after the airplane's arrival in Santiago, Chile.
Note that the shipment of the Mite from Porterville to Santiago took exactly one month.
The transport truck arrived at the main gate of Eulogio Sánchez Airport (SCTB), a private airport
on the eastern edge of the Santiago metropolitan area, yesterday (Dec. 31) at 6:30 a.m.
The door seals are in perfect condition, indictating that the shipment was not violated.
Customs came to the airport for the container's first opening.
With the truck already in position, the lifter arrives at 9:00 a.m.
Starting the unloading operation after all the cords were removed, Phillip is up in the container.
The fuselage and the wing in the hangar.
The wing is safely on the supports.
Photos by Jaime Colvin.
2016-01-02